FIRST BLOGIVERSARY – what I have learnt and how I have changed

BOOM – in April Fernweh Society hit the one year mark; Happy BLOGIVERSARY! It was both exciting and scary at the same time. Instantly my thoughts were, wow, it has been a year already? Then my brain went more into, “hmmmm, should I be bigger or more established after a year?” and “other’s seem to have more on the go after only one year or less of blogging, what’s wrong with me”?

These thoughts are definitely not positive and nor do they show all of the AMAZING things that happened in the last year! I have had some major milestones, successes and have learnt so many things! I want to share some highlights that have shaped the last year as well as things that I have learnt and how I have changed as a blogger. Before I do that, I you’re reading THANK YOU! You are the reason that is working. Thank you following the growth of Fernweh Society and being a part of the community of girlbosses and people who hustle!

This was my first interview as a blogger and it was a fantastic opportunity to chat about business and hustling. I was flattered and excited to be on a podcast and hope that there will be more interviews to come for Fernweh Society!

I was so blessed to be one of the Influencers selected to be part of a campaign in Milan during International Design Week. My photo, along with many other talented bloggers and influencers was part of a fantastic collage in Porta Genova subway. I only wish I could have gone to see it in person 🙂

I am so thrilled to be a part of this amazing team of women! Each of us will do a blog post every month on different topics. I will also be doing an Instagram takeover in a couple weeks time, so be sure to follow along 🙂

It is a lot more work than it seems!

I really use to think that blogging was a couple of pretty photos and a short blurb on something. IT IS SO MUCH MORE! Blogging is what you want it to be, however if you want it to grow, develop and gain traction, it is running a business, strategizing and pitching. I have learnt that I need to continue to push myself and grow Fernweh Society to be the best it can be.

Content is KING!

I have learnt that no matter what else happens, my content has to continue to improve and needs to hit home on topics that others want to read. Regardless of busy schedules, travel or events I need to take the time to produce quality content; this and only this will grow the community of Fernweh Society.

Technical is MUY IMPORTANTE!

It is funny, as many of you know, I come from a very technical background. When I started blogging I was thinking, “great, all creative no technical”, welp that was wrong! When I launched the blog, I was editing PHP code and different widgets on the site. Now moving forward, I am getting more serious about reading my analytics and making sure that I listen to the data that these reports are telling me. The technical side of blogging is JUST as important as the creative.

Timing of social engagements

It is hilarious but I am sure there are MANY other bloggers out there who can relate to this. When ever I am scheduling an outing or social engagement, if it is going to look pretty, then it best be done during the day, so that I can get some amazing photos in great light! On top of that, I will specifically choose pretty & bright places for those social engagements! Might as well catch up with friends and get some good content at the same time right???

Weekly schedule

Before blogging my morning, evenings and weekends were downtime, where I could relax and binge watch Game of Thrones or Masterchef! Oh, how things have changed! So now my mornings, evenings and weekends have become this precious time where I can get shi*t done! There are also new weekly rituals that have come out of blogging. For example, pretty much every week I will buy myself a new bouquet of flowers. This is not original by any means, but these flowers make the workspace so welcoming at 6:00am on a Tuesday morning and they also double as great photoshoot or flatly props 🙂

Better utilize tools that are available

As I mentioned above, things can get EXTREMELY busy because posts take a lot of work and CONTENT IS KING! So going forward into my second year, I plan to better utilize tools out there for scheduling posts and generating analytics. I feel like in the first year of blogging, you’re simply trying to find your voice and get into your own rhythm. So next step, I am planning to up the ante and really start developing some strategy.

Forget FOMO & any other acronym associated with envy

This one was is really tough. I think many people struggle with this no matter what stage of life they’re in or what they’re doing. Sometimes I can really get down on myself and feel like my growth is not enough or that I am doing something wrong; I kind of mentioned this in the opening paragraph of this post. I really want to push forward this year and only feel positivity or at least when I am starting to feel FOMO or compare and despair I want to combat it by focusing on the value I add, staying consistent and being thankful for the wonderful people that I get to connect with everyday.

Continued learning

There are A MILLION and one things that I would love to take in a course! I think this year my two biggies are SEO and Google analytics. I really want to test out the workshops at Brainstation in Toronto; has anyone tried these? Would you recommend them?

Well there yah have it, the first year for the books. I am really excited to be moving into the second year of the blog! I hope to collaborate more, try many more new things and share a little more of my personal life. What was missing from Fernweh Society in the first year? Tell me what would you like to see more of and I will make it happen!

2 Comments

Congratulations on completing a year and also on all the great accomplishments which you shared in this article! I really enjoyed reading through this post and I’m also glad I finally got to check out your website. It looks lovely, keep it up! 😁 💕